{ Summer With a Pregnant Mom }

Going through a summer with a pregnant mom is tough! I think all my kids should win “Kid of the year” award for enduring it so well. We had record breaking temperatures this summer which didn’t help. Anything outside, including a day at the pool seemed out of the question for me. I got drained so quickly, and having a fainting mom at the pool didn’t seem like the best idea to me. The kids spent most of their days playing on the trampoline with the sprinkler for hours at a time. They were such good sports and didn’t complain too much. We started out the summer with our summer points fun, but by mid July, I was too tired to actually keep up with who had earned what. Erika came to me one day and said, “So basically we don’t really do summer points anymore right?” Good catch kid. Instead, I would happily let them watch TV in the morning while I slept in if they would take care of Scott. A great little trade I think.

Don’t worry kids, there will actually come a day when your mom isn’t always pregnant, has an overabundance of energy, plans all kinds of fun activities to do, rides bikes with you, takes you to the pool all the time, and doesn’t constantly say to be quiet so she can take a nap. Someday kids..someday. Until then, I feel very lucky to have kids who see the vision and can’t wait for the “little brother who is making mommy tired” to join our family. Only a few more months guys!

{ Our New Piano }

Brianna and Austin have been taking piano lessons for a while, and have been constrained to using our keyboard for practicing. We have looked for a piano, but every time came up empty handed. Finally, last week our piano teacher had run into someone who had one. She had a dentist appointment with a dental hygienist she normally doesn’t see. They got to talking about her teaching piano lessons, and the dental hygienist mentioned she had a piano she was wanted to get rid off. She had asked around, but no one seemed to need one.

Our piano teacher gave us her name and number and we set up a time to go see it. We weren’t sure at first how much she would be asking, but thought we would take a look anyways. It was in great condition, setting down in their basement storage. Her parents had bought it for her when she was young and now it only got played on occasion at Christmas. She only wanted $200 for it. We were shocked and couldn’t pass it up. Even if we only kept it for a few years until we got something newer it would be worth it. We set up a time to go pick it up later that week, and the kids excitedly counted down the days until it arrived.

When Aaron returned from picking it up, he handed me a envelope form her. In it was a note from her saying how she had had such a hard time in the past getting rid of it, but when she met our family she knew it would be going to a home where it would be loved. In the card was the uncashed check we had given her. We were shocked and felt very blessed.

 

Our new-to-us free piano now sits in our front room, getting hours of attention a day, and yes, she was right, it is very loved.

{ Our New Kitchen }

Upon returning from Utah my pregnant nose made a most unpleasant discovery. I could smell something in our kitchen that didn’t smell quite right. We have thoroughly cleaned before we left, but I still spent days sniffing around trying to find the culprit. I finally confined the area to right next to the dishwasher. I tried looking under the dishwasher and couldn’t see any leaking water and then tried pulling out the dishwasher. Not an easy task for a very pregnant woman. After using some not so nice language towards our dishwasher which I couldn’t manage to get out, I broke down and called a water damage service to come take a look. They had this cool device that they laid on the ground and it could detect how much moisture was on the concrete beneath. Sure enough right around the dishwasher-100%. He tried looking under the dishwasher and could see the leak right away.

The next day some guys came and took out our dishwasher, ripped up the vinyl flooring, and cut out part of our cabinet that was damaged. We spent the night and next day with a huge very loud fan and dehumidifier in our kitchen to dry everything out. We felt lucky that the damage was contained to a rather small area, but the reality was that a lot of our kitchen would need to be redone. Lucky for homeowners insurance we were able to fix it up and even upgrade a few things without too much out of pocket considering the whole expense.

It was very interesting to see how the whole insurance process works and what they would and wouldn’t pay for. We ended up having to replace the cabinet next to the dishwasher, and to get the cabinet out they would have to rip up the countertops-so new countertops, new flooring throughout the whole kitchen, eating area, pantry, and all the way into the laundry room, and a new backsplash. We also ended getting a new dishwasher, but on our tab this time. It was seven years old and would have cost $200 to fix or $300 for a new one, so we opted for a new one.

Now here comes our dilemma. Our house is still up for sale and we still want to move, so what do you pick to put in your house? When everything is already ripped up, it’s tempting to just get what we would want-granite countertops, tile flooring, a nice tile backsplash, but by doing so we would also dump a lot more money into it than we would ever get back in this market. Unfortunately, insurance only covers the quality that was there before, so any extras would come directly out of our pocket. In the end we decided to still get formica countertops, we tried to pick something that looked more like stone, vinyl flooring, and then we upgraded and paid the extra for a new tile backsplash.

The next month was spent without a dishwasher-oh how spoiled we are these days to have one, eating off of lots of paper plates, and waiting for the next subcontractor to show up. I can say now though that I know how they install laminate countertops and how they rip them off, how they install a tile backsplash, how they rip up and install flooring, and how much I love to have everyone else doing it while I watch. I have to give those guys credit, some of those things are backbreaking work, and take real talent to pull off. Though, I am not a huge fan of laminate countertops, I just loved my counter guy. He had been doing it for 30+ years and was super professional. There was not one thing he left undone, and he totally cleaned up after himself too! He was definitely a top notch guy.

So, here are all the before and after shots of our kitchen:

Our kitchen countertops before. Not horrible, but a little dated and the laminate backsplash with the metal trim always bothered me.

Our countertops and backsplash ripped off and our cabinet taken out. At first the insurance company wanted to just replace the one side of the cabinet, but I insisted that they replace the whole cabinet. I am glad I stuck to my guns because when they pulled out the whole cabinet later, there was damage almost all the way to the other wall that we couldn’t see before.

Our new countertops

The new backsplash which I loved the moment they put it up. So much better than before!The backsplash on the other side of the kitchen, awaiting to be grouted and sealed still.

When all is said and done, we were very pleased with how it turned out, and we learned so much, and do love it much more than what was there before. All the workers joked as I would ohh and ahh over what they had just installed that now that I had a new kitchen I might not want to move. It does look nice, but then I walked into my front room and tripped over piles of toys and decided, yes I would still like to move.

Things we learned through all of this:

• How much we love having a dishwasher and what a treat it is to not eat on paper plates.
• How fun it can be to pick out new stuff to put in your house.
• How hard it can to pick out new stuff for your house.
• We learned how we work together (Aaron and I) when picking out stuff. Aaron is pretty easy going and says he doesn’t really care, until he sees it and then maybe starts to care more. He works well when I narrow down the choices to a few things for him to see. Still he(okay we both) have a hard time seeing the vision until its done. I joke that when we build our new house, I will just invite to see it when we actually move in to it, then he won’t know what he’s missing by seeing all the choices he could of had. Not really, I really do love his opinion and it’s so much fun going to look at stuff together.
• That I never want to remodel a house and live there at the same time. So hard with young kids! I have a new respect for anyone who does this.
• Cleaning macaroni, spilled cereal, and basically anything gooey that was dropped from Scott’s highchair, off of a cement floor is really difficult. Okay, let’s be honest, it’s downright impossible.
• Having a darker floor covering does make all the difference. My light colored floors drove me crazy! They showed every little speck of dirt on them. I guess now the dirt is still there, but now I can just plead ignorant?
• Last but most important, we learned that Heavenly Father loves the family very dearly that will buy our house and wants them to get to enjoy a new kitchen. It was this knowledge that helped me trudge along for a month without a dishwasher and see the light at the end of the tunnel. At times we are so excited to get into a house with  more room for our growing family and for it to have all the things we want that we forget that Heavenly Father loves the family that will live here just as much and wants the best for them. Sometimes that means sacrifice for us. A sacrifice that has been such a blessing to give. I am very grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that never ceases to teach me things, even through a kitchen redo.

The finished kitchen

{ Utah Trip }

Our big trip for the summer was over the 4th of July weekend to Utah. My youngest brother was getting married, so we decided to try to combine both family reunion/get togethers this year. Our flight was scheduled to leave early on Tuesday morning so we planned to spend the night up in Atlanta in a hotel next to the airport. By the time we actually got everything packed, the van loaded up, ate dinner at IHOP (can you tell we love to eat at that place?) and drove up to Atlanta it was well after 10pm. The hotel we had booked a reservation at was having air conditioning problems so they booked us at a hotel next door for free! Yea for us! Since we would be leaving so early before breakfast was served they sent us on our way with box breakfasts for everyone. We checked into the other hotel, unloaded our tired crew, lugged in our suitcase, and I grabbed my camera bag just for safe keeping.

The next morning started out early at 4am getting ready. We managed to make it to the airport around 5:30am and our flight was set to leave around 6:50am. We thought we were doing great on time, kids were fed, no major disasters yet, until we were unloading the luggage from the van. Aaron turned around and casually asks “Do you have your camera bag?”

“What?” Where was my camera bag? Safe and sound back in the hotel room. How can you go to your youngest brother’s wedding, one summer vacation for the year, and two family reunions without a camera? We didn’t have time to go back to the hotel, so on we ventured on the bus shuttle to catch our flight. By the time we finally got to the baggage check in it was an hour to go until the flight left. We were proud of ourselves that we had made it there that early. Unfortunately, I guess you can’t check in your bags with only an hour to go. What? After begging a slightly annoyed airport worker we managed to get our packed to the max bags on their way to Utah. By the time we got all 8 of us through security, shoes, belts, and everything else back on our bodies, we were cutting it pretty close to make our plane. Remember Home Alone when they are running through the airport? That would be us. Running with 6 small kids to make our flight. When we got to the straight away we sent Brianna and Austin ahead to let them know we were coming. The guy at the gate yells down the corridor-“You have to run!” Permission to run-check. I felt like I was dragging my poor kids. We made it just in time for them to shut the gate-two adults, six kids, 4 suitcases, one stroller, one diaper bag, one carryon bag, and no camera! Enjoy the picture journey the kids helped to recreate to take place of our camera pictures!

Plane ride by Brooke

  Plane ride by Erika

Plane ride by Brianna I love the mystery guy in the back of the plane sleeping. So funny!

We were so blessed to have really good flights from Atlanta to Houston and on the Salt Lake. Scott slept in my arms the entire time, and by the time we landed in Salt Lake we were all refreshed and ready for some fun. We are discovering that traveling with this size of family is not only expensive, tiring, and a lot of work, but that finding a rental car to hold this many is near impossible. We ended up having to rent two cars for the week-so I spent most of my vacation with my husband not actually with him. We had managed to get a hold of the hotel and they said that they hadn’t found the camera bag. Okay this isn’t your small credit card sized bag, this is like a backpack! I know exactly where I put it, next to a chair in the corner, so I was optimistic that it had just been overlooked. I was wanting a knew camera, but not under these circumstances. I was at peace with the fact that I would be walking away with no pictures from this vacation, but was still hoping that they could find it. I hadn’t downloaded my last batch of pictures either from it-last day of school, last time with the Johnson family=(, Brianna’s birthday, all would be gone. Lesson learned-always download pictures before going on a trip.

Driving to our cousins house by Erika. I guess we did find a van to all ride in!=)

The first leg of our vacation was going to be down in Provo with my side of the family and for my brother’s wedding. We arrived at my oldest brother’s house, got reacquainted with cousins the kids hadn’t seen in over two years, and then went out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants-Los Hermanos. So good and so fun! I love going to a place and getting a long table for 24 and no one looking at you like you’re out of your mind. Only in Utah! It was a great night of catch up conversation and last minute plans for the wedding.

Eating at Los Hermanos by Brianna

Eating at Los Hermanos by Brooke The dotty things are the food I have been told.

On Wednesday morning we picked up some freshly made bread from one of our favorite places-Great Harvest. Three loaves of Pumpkin chocolate chip ought to do it. We love treat bread! That afternoon Aaron and I got to go to the Salt Lake Temple so that our almost new sister-in-law Michelli could go through and get her endowments. It was the first time that I had actually been in the Salt Lake Temple and it was such a  special experience. When we got back we took our kids to eat at the Brick Oven. Love that place! Aaron and I think it’s funny that all the places we miss and love from Utah are food places. I guess when your pregnant or being sympathetic to a pregnant wife, food is always on the mind. The food was great of course, but the funniest part of the whole trip happened there. We were seated next to a large group that was celebrating a little girls birthday who was turning 3. There were aunts, uncles, grandmas and grandpas, presents, a cake they had brought, the whole deal. It came time for the waiters/waitresses to come and sing to her. “Where’s Katylyn?” (I don’t actually remember her name so it will have to be that) they all called playfully. I think they thought she was hiding under the table. All of a sudden here she comes walking from the main part of the restaurant completely naked, carrying her dress in her hands. Her parents were so embarrassed. I guess she could go potty by herself, she just couldn’t get dressed by herself. Our kids were trying to hide their laughs, …okay they weren’t really trying that hard, and her family just kept saying, “well, I guess she wanted to wear her birthday suit on her birthday!” That night we all went swimming at our hotel, all 13 cousins, a couple dads, and a grandma and grandpa. The moms mostly watched from the edge being the lifeguards, but by the end were probably just as wet from holding squirmy swimmers.

Swimming at the hotel by Brooke

Thursday morning we spent some time with just us and the kids. We took a fun trip touring around BYU, visiting the bookstore and spending too much, outfitting everyone with new BYU shirts (the Johnson’s would be so proud), getting yummy bagels there, driving by our old apartment and work places, and hearing our kids say over and over, “This place is so cool!” I loved Austin’s comment the best: “I mean, I knew I was going to go to college, but now, I am totally coming to college! This place is awesome!” We think so too, buddy! We had planned on hiking up to the Y later, but I think that will have to wait until another trip.

Y mountain by Austin

The girl that my brother is marrying, Michelli, is from Brazil, so on Thursday afternoon all the adults  went to eat at a Brazilian restaurant. It had great food, and it was fun to see part of the culture. Mitch went on his mission to Brazil, and has a great love for Brazil. It was a great match when he later met Michelli at BYU. That night we did last minute errands for shoes for the girls for the wedding, took bike and scooter rides to a park, and hung out enjoying being with family.

Riding scooters in the driveway by Erika

Going to the playground by Erika

Friday was the day of the wedding. We dressed everyone in their cute purple dresses and tuxes and headed to the Salt Lake Temple. It was a beautiful and memorable wedding ceremony.

Salt Lake Temple by Austin

The kids waited patiently outside until picture time. They thought it was so funny that during the big group shots of the family, that the photographer kept moving around only one person..me. Do you really have to make the pregnant one trudge up and down the stairs three or four times? The kids sure thought it was entertaining.

Taking pictures by Brianna

The Salt Lake Temple by Erika

The reception was that night back down in Provo, so we headed back there to wait for the new bride and groom. The reception was a lot of fun. Lots of food the kids enjoyed, dancing Brazilian style, the kids having fun decorating Mitch and Michelli’s car, and a very late night for us. We were glad to sleep in the next day. Dancing at the reception by Brianna

Dancing at the reception by Abby

Saturday we checked out of our hotel and went to hang out with the cousins for a while at my brothers. We all went to see “How to train your dragon” at the dollar theater, and then headed up to Salt Lake to see Aaron’s side of the family. We were staying right there in Salt Lake so we could be close to all the fun temple square attractions. We went out to eat at Golden Corral, went swimming that night with all the cousins, and then turned in for an early night. We had been up late every night and we were exhausted.

We found a ward that met later on Sunday, and Aaron took the kids and the rest of his family to church. Abby had woke up sick that morning so I stayed and slept with her. That afternoon they were able to go tour the conference center and we all went to a nearby park for  a walk. Monday we went to Pioneer park for a while and had a picnic lunch, played soccer, let the kids run free, and then headed to a waterpark. I forgot how many kids there are in Utah. I don’t mean that in a bad way,  but it was packed with kids everywhere. It was a lot of fun, but we were noticing how different from Georgia. In Georgia, it is so hot even when you get out of the water, but in Utah you get out and it is cold! Okay, not cold cold, but you feel like to need to run for a towel right when you get out. I never thought I would want humidity. The kids loved the lazy river the best, and even Brianna got convinced by her cousins to try every waterslide. We order pizza that night, played games, ate Oreos, and called it a night. Our flight left the next afternoon, so we packed up that night. We had since gotten a hold of the hotel back in Atlanta and they had found my camera. I was so glad!

The next morning we enjoyed one last leisurely breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa Starbuck, said our good-byes to everyone, and then headed off to the airport. Our trip back was great. Sleeping baby, splurging on headrest TV’s for the flights so we could watch a World Cup game, lunches on the plane, treats at the USO (military lounge) at the airport, and finally coming home to our soft beds. We had such a fun trip. It’s amazing how fast a week can go by. The kids are already planning our next one out there. We love you family! Thanks for a great week.

*More pictures to come when I can convince my kids to draw some more.

“He’s Our Bishop…”

Earlier this week the stake President asked to speak with us. We knew that there were some openings in the High Counsel and thought maybe Aaron was getting called back to fill one of those positions or maybe the Second Counselor position in our own bishopric. To say that we were surprised to have him be called as our new bishop would be an understatement. It think Aaron just get wondering why me? What do I have to offer? A loving heart and humble attitude for starters I think.  He is such a wonderful man who wants to serve the Lord. After the initial shock we both felt at such peace. We have had trials this last year that haven’t seemed to fit together and now suddenly without really knowing how they fit together there was this overwhelming sense of peace that somehow all was good.

It was hard to keep it from the kids until Sunday, and then to actually get to church on time so we wouldn’t miss the change=). Brianna was so excited because it was going to be her first Sunday in Young Women’s and her first Bishopric Youth Fireside that night. Imagine her surprise when they announced that her dad was the bishop. That night and the next day the kids practiced singing the Primary song “He’s our Bishop..” so they could sing it for Family Home Evening. Brianna organized it all so that each of the older kids sang a verse and then they all sang the chorus together. Even little Scott had his mini Children's Songbook and was singing along. At the end they changed the words to “He’s our bishop  daddy!

We had a lesson on what bishops do taken from a talk written years ago by one of the General Authorities, and then talked about each of our own callings to help daddy. They each got an envelope with a slip of paper in it with their own calling on it. It read:

Brianna: You have a special calling as the daughter of the bishop to:
Pray each day for him that he will have the Spirit to be with him and he will be able to listen to it.

Austin: You have a special calling as the son of the bishop to:
Remind him each day if he has thought about the Primary kids in the ward.

Brooke: You have a special calling as the daughter of the bishop to:
Ask him each day if he has read his Book of Mormon. Maybe he can tell you one thing each day he read about.

Erika: You have a special calling as the daughter of the bishop to:
Pray each day that he will be able to be strong and healthy and sleep good at night.

Abby:You have a special calling as the daughter of the bishop to:
Give him a hug each day and tell him you love him.

Scott: You have a special calling as the son of the bishop to:
Go to your nursery class. (Something he hasn’t wanted to do)

A few years ago when Aaron was the Elder’s Quorum president and it was stake conference, there was a special meeting before for the wives of bishops in our stake. Somehow, the announcement of it in a meeting caused some confusion  and Aaron thought it was for all the bishopric wives and Elder’s Quorum. We got there early and walked in to be happily greeted by our own bishop’s wife. I was quite embarrassed to learn that it was only for the bishops wives, and wanted to just wait in the foyer until the adult evening session began. Our bishop’s wife sweetly asked if I would stay and listen, maybe out of pity because we had gotten a babysitter and were already there, but I think more out of listening to the spirit. The Lord knew someday I would need all the gentle advice these sweet sisters were sharing with each other to make the time that their husbands were the bishop to be an uplifting and a time where the spirit would be poured out upon their families. Thank you Tami for listening to the spirit and loving reaching out to me. I look back and can remember specific advice that gave that will be helpful to our family.  What an exciting time this will be for our family to grow together and see how much the Lord loves all the people in our little ward.

{ Brianna’s Golden Birthday }

12 years! How in the world can twelve years have passed by so quickly? This year was Brianna’s 12th and “Golden Birthday”. We pondered about what would be fun, but not too childish for her. We finally decided on a fun Charlie and the Chocolate factory party with GOLDEN tickets and lots of chocolate fun. We made these cute golden tickets that everyone got at breakfast the day before, and we watched the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the night before for movie night just to get us in that chocolatey mood.

All the presents were neatly wrapped in yellow wrapping paper, yellow balloons everywhere, and Wonka style games set up throughout the house. The kids were so excited! And afterwards we were are full of candy. A Wonka party wouldn’t be a Wonka party without lots of treats. Here’s the run down of our fun day in Brianna’s own words:

“Then we did Golden Egg Game. We had this bag of balloons on the fan in the living room and we pulled the string and we had to pop the balloons to try and find a piece of paper inside that said it was a good egg. If we found one than we were able to go to the candy store and get a big box of Gobstoppers, Mike Ikes, Starbursts, Nerds, or Sweet Tarts. I got Mike Ikes. Then we went to the inventing room. There we made my cake.  After we put everything to make my cake and it was in the oven we went to the candy store again and we got another big treat. Then we went to the Tasting Room. We had to taste these things and than write them down. The fist one was Sugar. Than Cinnamy thing. Than Salt. Than this K9 (cayenne pepper) stuff.  After we about washed our mouths about 20 million times we went to the candy store. This time we got fun dip. After the candy store we went to the Fizzy Drink Room. We drank these tiny Twist Ups and than we had a burping contest. Of course Austin won. Than we went to the candy Store and got Laffy Taffies. After that my mom was on the phone forever so we had a contest with the remaining "Golden Eggs." We had to try and throw all of the eggs to the other person's side and try to keep them over there for 1 minute. Who ever has the most eggs on their side lost. Finally my mom got off the phone so we were able to open presents. I got a whole bunch of clothes. After I opened the presents we went to the Chocolate River. Here we had two teams who had to drink all of the chocolate milk out of the bowl and try to sink the ship with straws. My team won. After that we went to the Candy Store for the last time. We got sugar in the straws. After that we went to see Karate Kid at the theater( her, Austin, and daddy).”

It is so fun to see how Brianna has changed over these last few years. Her cute little personality is shining through. Watching her open her presents showed exactly that. She is spunky and fun, and still gets excited over little things. I love that!

 

She mostly wanted clothes this year, but we surprised her with one “Golden” present she wasn’t expecting. A few years ago for her birthday she got a pearl that they harvested when we went to Sea World. It has a really tiny opening to thread a necklace through, and the only cheap one we had, had since broken. We splurged and got her a really nice one for her to wear. She was so surprised and it has been so fun to watch her wear it with such care and be so delicate with it.  I love these pictures, with Austin right there beside her as excited as she is. There are still close, and it is such a joy to see them play and interact. Even when they sneak in each other’s room at night to read books together when they are suppose to be sleeping!=)

                

Every birthday our kids receive a birthday book. Since, Christmas when one of Brianna’s friends got a cooking book to fill out with her mom, Brianna has been hinting she wants one too. Her birthday seemed the perfect opportunity for it. Thanks Lisa for such a fun and cute idea. She got a binder to write down recipes in that we cook together and some new bowls and spoons.

  

 

After she opened all of her presents she wanted to have a fashion show and have me take pictures so she could remember what outfits go together. Very fun when your 12! As you can tell we were hurting in the Sunday wear department this year. She has shot up in height so much that most of her skirts were too short now.

Happy 12th birthday BB, we love you so much!!

{ Mr. Sticky Fingers }

It seems lately that every post I write about Scott involves food and him making a mess. I promise I do actually supervise my children, but making messes and food are what his life is all about at 18 months.

Abby had come to me one afternoon and asked if she could have “butter on a spoon”. Who doesn’t love nice creamy peanut butter to snack on?, so I quickly agreed. She insisted she could get it herself, so I let her go on her way. We keep our 3lb. tub of peanut butter (we go through a LOT of peanut butter around this place) in the pantry on a higher shelf, but one that Abby can still reach. A few minutes later, Abby was at the table with her spoon of “butter” happily enjoying her snack.

As the next few moments went by, I realized that Scott was rather quiet. His normal reaction to seeing Abby at the table with peanut butter would be constant grunting until someone comes and gets him some too. I venture into pantry to find him elbow deep in the peanut butter jar. I tried to run fast, but not too fast as the alarm him, and grabbed my camera. I tried to snap as many as I could before he came after me with those sticky little hands wanting to see himself on the camera.

        

Then to top it off, he did his little Scotty thing when gets really excited and his hands go straight to the hair. He has this innate reaction to any of the words, “hands up (straight to the hair), hold still (straight to the hair), just a minute while mommy gets a towel (straight to the hair) saying nothing so as to sneak up on him with a towel (straight to the hair). Needless to say we enjoyed a nice afternoon swim in the tub with lots and lots of shampoo.

{ My 3 Girls }

3 girls in 3 years! At the time when I had three under the age of three, I think that some days I was unsure if I was going to make it through. Now that they are older, I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, that they are so close in age. They are the best of friends and playmates. I love it when two of them will come inside arms around each other and say, " She's my best friend!" Whenever we say the "little girls" everyone knows who we are referring to. Too bad they aren't staying little for too long. 

Things they love to do together:

• play babies
• jump on the trampoline
• ride scooters and bikes together
• playing school-they often have a hard time deciding who will be the teacher and many times end up either arguing or having a class with three teachers and invisible students, which they say is more fun anyways.
• coloring
• playing Strawberry Shortcake game
• loading up my bed with ALL of their toys. I am not exactly sure the name of this game. Some days I think it's called, "Make mommy frustrated game"
• playing doggies with their real leash. It usually  ends with Scott attacking their dog bowls full of water or goldfish. They are trying to teach him to crawl around and be the dog and that seems to be working better.
• Reading to each other

Brooke 7 years Old

• Loves to color and write letters
• Loves to do homework and any worksheet she can get her hands on
• Loves her new 2nd grade teacher
• So excited for the new baby to come. She can't stop staring at my belly each day and exclaiming, "It's just getting so big!"
• Likes to sneak flashlights in her room so she can read after she has been tucked in bed.
• Very dramatic!
• Likes to use big words-some are real, some are made up; and then look for our reaction when she uses them in a sentence.
• Definitely has a lot of fashion sense. A couple years ago she used to lay out "outfits" for me on my floor.I might need to have her do that again. I feel very drab in my outfits these days.
• Having her hair pulled partially back with a ribbon is her favorite way to wear her hair. Having it down and straightened with the iron would run a close second.
• Likes to wear flips flops and any kind of "high heal" type of shoe.
• Loves to build tree houses with Austin and the girls.
• Loves organizing
• Loves to put pencils, notebooks, crayons, markers, and paper in backpacks and folders. Has to always have all these things with her when we leave the house. Even if it's just for a few minutes, she loves to be prepared for the off chance of possible boredom in the van.

Erika 5 years old:

• Loves to write letters to everyone in the family and tape them on our doors or leave them in special hiding places.
• Loves kindergarten
• Loves to play school
• Still loves milk. She is down to the 2 sippy cups a day habit. Yes, a sippy cup. I am weak, very weak.
• Loves to get out of the bath and brush her hair smooth and straight. She is often disappointed in the morning when it is “puffy” as she puts it.
• Very laid back about what she wears. She will still let me pick about anything out for her to wear without much discussion.
• Loves to eat pasta!
• Very excited for her birthday. She is always counting down the days-usually starting the day after her birthday.
• Not a big breakfast eater.
• Loves to play outside.
• Gets excited for fast Sunday because “it goes so fast” she insists.
• She is a morning person. She wakes up happy and cheerful and at the same time everyday. She is always the first one awake on weekends too.
• Gives great hugs
• Loves to practice her word lists

Abby 4 years old:

• Loves to play babies. She carries around her pink baby diaper bag with all her babies stuff in it. She is very nurturing and loves to rock her babies to sleep and hold them propped on her hip.
• Still takes a nap with me.
• Shares a room with Brianna.
• Loves to drink juice. Most our kids love water or milk, but she is a juice girl.
• Calls Honey Nut Cheerios-Honey Butt Cheerios. I try to correct her every time, but she still says it this way -and with a straight face.
• Is in the awkward squinty eye phase for picture taking, and doesn’t let me take pictures of her as painless and often as she did before.
• Only weighs 3 lbs. more than Scott who is 2 1/2 years younger than her. She was our tiniest baby and still is very petite.
• Very emotional about how her hair is done on Sundays. No other day-just Sundays.
• Loves to wear flip flops.
• Likes to ride her bike with training wheels on it.
• Has issues opening the back door to come inside. At least 5-10 times a day she will come to the door. Knock. I will look at her from the computer and say,”turn hard”, and she will say in her cutest voice, “my hands are slippawee” (slippery).
• Loves to play with Scott until he pulls her hair or tackles her down.
• Loves to practice writing her letters and drawing pictures.
• Is not a morning person. She is usually the last one up, and like me doesn’t usually wake up very cheerfully.